"The Sri Lankan conflict may have ended in 2009, but the level of human rights violations in the country remains critically high, with persistent government attacks on dissenting voices throughout Sri Lankan society,” said
Polly Truscott, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia Pacific Director

In addition to international pressure, the U.S. Army has another big hurdle to overcome on the way to a possible attack against the forces of Bashar al Assad in Syria: it is the lack of resources that overwhelms the Pentagon.

Cyber-attacks:USA infect computers with tens of thousands of NSA Trojans

The hacker attacks by U.S. intelligence agencies achieve a new dimension: Bald 85,000 systems will be infected with spy software in the world, reports the "Washington Post".The NSA plans to control the infected computer as a kind of botnet.

While the Civil Rights Movement is remembered for efforts to end #segregation and secure the rights of African Americans, the larger economic vision that animated much of the movement is often overlooked today. That vision sought economic #justice for every person in the United States, regardless of race. It favored production for social use instead of profit; social ownership; and democratic control over major economic decisions. The document that best captured this vision was "The Freedom Budget for All Americans: Budgeting Our Resources, 1966-1975, To Achieve Freedom from Want" published by the A. Philip Randolph Institute. Now, two of today’s leading socialist thinkers return to the Freedom Budget and its program for economic justice. Paul Le Blanc and Michael D. Yates explain the origins of the Freedom #Budget, how it sought to achieve “freedom from want” for all people, and how it might be re-imagined for our current moment. Combining historical perspective with clear-sighted economic proposals, the authors make a concrete case for reviving the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement and building the society of economic security and democratic control envisioned by the movement’s leaders—a struggle that continues to this day. The book conjoins meticulous research with a sensitive analysis to deliver a superb political narrative graphically recreating a significant slice of lost history.

Last year, Mexicans voted for a leader to end the war with the drug cartels. But under President Enrique Pena Nieto, the violence has become worse. Polls suggest that Mexicans are becoming disenchanted with their president. Now some communities are defying the government and taking the fight into their own hands. | Watch Adam Raney's report from the western state of Michoacan here: http://aje.me/17pvVxL

This time, we will learn you how to make your own bottles planters. You don’t need to be a glassworker to put this idea into practice. You can do it simply by using a beer, soda or wine bottle. Just be creative! As for the technique, see the video below: it shows a method of how to cut these bottles. May you enjoy!

"L 'association against evictions PAH arises from the need to combat anti-social working of financial institutions in the building sector. The aim is to reach more families, evicted, they have nowhere to live, given that the authorities are not able to respond to this unfortunate situation of emergency housing. Spain is among the countries with the most empty houses in Europe and, at the same time, the country with more foreclosures and more families who can not exercise their right to housing decent. PAH in four years denounced this injustice. The video explains how the circumstances have led to launch welfare projects, through a campaign of civil disobedience and the recovery of abandoned property held by banks for the families homeless. government PP has bailed out the banks with billions of Euros of public without any social consideration and passed a law that benefits the banks and destroys people's lives. European Court of Justice ruled that Spanish law on evictions is illegal. Madrid will have to change legislation on mortgages to secure more rights for citizens and curb the excessive power of the banks in getting evictions of citizens who are no longer able to pay the installment. Anti-Eviction Campaign has raised a million and a half signatures, after a dramatic series of suicides of people at imminent risk of eviction. The ruling of the European Court criticizes the Spanish law authorizing the eviction in the event that a citizen who has signed a mortgage, no longer able to pay. "

The findings, which already are generating a great deal of controversy
and concern, could help explain why the incidence of childhood leukemia
and brain tumors has been increasing over the last two decades, say the
researchers, led by USC epidemiologist Dr. John Peters.

Syrian rebels in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta have admitted to Associated Press journalist Dale Gavlak that they were responsible for last week’s chemical weapons incident which western powers have blamed on Bashar Al-Assad’s forces, revealing that the casualties were the result of an accident caused by rebels mishandling chemical weapons provided to them by Saudi Arabia.

How did a nation of, by, and for the people become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war?

The film moves beyond the headlines of various American military operations to the deeper questions of why - why does America fight? What are the forces political, economic, ideological that drive us to fight against an ever-changing enemy?

It seems that mistakes made in Wall Street and the City of London are paid for by people around the world, but can we govern greed within the realm of capitalism or is it all just money down the drain? Is austerity really needed? Can we trust the banks? http://aje.me/14aTztO

War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq.

With Syria being the next target of the US administration's imperial war plans, this is a great time to watch and share this film with friends.

Why would I not want to ingest a large dosage of ‘Fuckidall’ or go eat 700 pounds of chocolate? Go to the gym today? Are you freakin’ kidding me?

A recent Guardian headline reads “Fukushima Warning: Danger Level At Nuclear Plant Jumps To ‘Serious’,” and the Wall St. Journal states unequivocally that ‘TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) Has Lost Control.’ Just a few days ago I posted on my site Guy McPherson’s latest piece “19 Ways Climate Change Is Feeding On Itself,” and Washington’s Blog screams, “West Coast Of North America To Be Hit Hard By Fukushima Radiation,” complete with a detailed map of the ocean current called the North Pacific Gyre which is bringing Japanese radiation to the West Coast of North America.

As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I occasionally hear people saying things like, “Well, we’re not going to be here after 2030 by which time near-term extinction is ‘guaranteed’ so what I eat or drink or smoke or do or don’t do doesn’t matter.”

That’s called resignation or giving up, and from my perspective, indulging in it, even if I feel compelled to do so, is a cowardly, delusional kind of devil’s bargain that essentially affirms that I have no purpose here except breathing air and ingesting food and water. Resignatio in Latin connotes submission, acquiescence, and compliance. Is this not the same as surrender? Actually, it’s not.

Hopefully, everyone reading these words, like me, is not willing to go gently, quietly, or complacently into the abyss that our species has created. If we do—if at this unprecedented time in the history of our planet we resign ourselves to defining our existence only in terms of the physical plane, as if we have absolutely no connection with anything eternal or constant, then we are inexorably as foolish as the purveyors of industrial civilization who are engaged in rendering this planet uninhabitable.

The courage to surrender

Surrender is fundamentally different from resignation because unlike the latter, it is not a passive act. Surrender is always a choice, and in our “dead man walking” status on planet Earth, we may be able to change nothing in the external milieu, but we have agency in how we meet our fate. Certainly we have the option and the right to muddle our way into oblivion like comatose inebriates, and countless millions will choose and are choosing that path.

Mentally, I keep returning to Nazi death camp survivors and the unspoken, seemingly feckless choices they made on a daily basis that allowed them to prevail. Perhaps a drawing made in the mud or jokes they furtively told to one another or a decision that every day they would find meaning somewhere, somehow in the hellish drudgery and brutality of their lives.

Giving up is easy. Surrender takes enormous courage and self-regard—an abiding conviction that one’s human dignity is worth it, even if one is bereft of family and friends.

Surrender acknowledges that in the last half of 2013, the human species is marching obliviously in its own funeral procession and that perhaps one can choose instead to march consciously, all the while asking questions that matter. Questions like: What is left for me to do here? How do I most wisely use the time I have left? What is my work in these remaining years? What gifts do I have that I must give? What brings meaning to the lives of people around me? What brings meaning to me?

[Video] Poverty / Harz4 / Precarious employment / wage dumping: The gap between rich and poor is wider. Rich get richer and the poor is increasing. The economy is doing well, the state made a surplus, yet more and more people work at low wages, and need government help many children and old people facing a life of poverty. The social organization in Germany calls for greater justice: Rich should help the poor. But they do not do that already? Not benefit socially disadvantaged by the economic power of successful entrepreneurs and higher tax revenue? What about the social commitment of the wealthy?

What do Americans think about War with Syria

In this video Luke Rudkowski hits the streets of NYC to talk to random people about the current situation regarding Syria. This is an honest look into what random people think about the upcoming war. Everyone who was interviewed was included in this video and we did not edit out anyone who we talked to. As you can see the majority of people we spoke to were against the war, except for one person but a lot of people also seemed not to care about the situation.

As the hours go by confirming that it is going to carry out an attack against Syria soon, and it will be without the approval of the Security Council of the United Nations and without evidence of authorship of chemical attack , which is something that seems to not be interested suspiciously coalition of countries that will lead America.

As the hours go by confirming that it is going to carry out an attack against Syria soon, and it will be without the approval of the Security Council of the United Nations and without evidence of authorship of chemical attack , which is something that seems to not be interested suspiciously coalition of countries that will lead America.

A “punitive” strike by a country with this much unpunished blood on its hands seems equally ludicrous. Whether you call it “humanitarian intervention” or not, it won’t make the slightest bit of difference to the victims.

Only days after the White House suggested it was all but certain Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons to gas hundreds of civilians, United States intelligence officials briefed on the situation say the evidence isn’t all there.

The $52.6 billion “black budget” for fiscal 2013, obtained by The Washington Post from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny. The summary describes cutting-edge technologies, agent recruiting and ongoing operations.

As the school is a prison - and damaging to our children Many schools have become like vampires, sucking the creativity, free will and critical thinking of our children. Long years of school are not the answer. The problem is the school itself. Compulsory education and test just does not work. http://www.salon.com/2013/08/26/school_is_a_prison_and_damaging_our_kids/

“My brother was killed on 28 August. In late November the authorities called us…and when my father went to the Revolutionary Committee office they said that both my brothers had been executed but they didn't give any documents. They didn’t say why they killed them, where they had been buried, why there had been a re-trial, their last words, nothing,” Jafar Behkish.

Saudi Arabia created a catch 22 situation and is exploiting it to harass and prosecute human rights activists. The authorities should immediately pass an associations law that meets international standards, and let independent human rights and other activists operate without harassment.

In this documentary John Pilger, the winner of journalism's top awards for both press and broadcasting, including academy awards in the UK and US, questions the role of the media in war.

In The War You Don't See, Pilger, himself a renowned correspondent, asks whether mainstream news has become an integral part of war-making.

Focusing on the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, Pilger reflects on the history of the relationship between the media and government in times of conflict stretching back to World War I and explores the impact on the information fed to the public of the modern day practice of public relations in the guise of 'embedding' journalists with the military.

Prime Minister David Cameron was forced yesterday (28 August) to push back his plans for an imminent military strike against Syria in a humiliating climb-down for Britain's leader after coming under fierce domestic and international pressure.

Bradley Manning – The Last Nail in the Coffin of the American Democracy

It was a sad day when we all heard about the sentencing of Bradley
Manning. A 25 years old man who has followed his moral obligations and
exposed the horrendous war crimes committed by the American soldiers in
Iraq, will spend 35 years behind bars

Snowden leak proves Australia is spying on undersea cables

"The Australian Signals Directorate, is in a partnership with British, American and Singaporean intelligence agencies to tap undersea fibre optic telecommunications cables that link Asia, the Middle East and Europe and carry much of Australia's international phone and internet traffic."

On the 50th anniversary of King's "I have a dream" speech, while the US is poised to enter into yet another war, King offers this message to President Obama. Will he listen?

Profit
and democracy are so contrary that there is no scope for comment. The
aim of democracy is to leave people free to decide how they live and to
make any political choices concerning them. Making a profit is a disease
in our society, based on specific organisations. A decent, ethical
society would pay only marginal attention to profits. Take my university
department [at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology]: a few
scientists work very hard to earn lots of money, but they are considered
a little odd and slightly deranged, almost pathological cases. Most of
the academic community is more concerned about trying to break new
ground, out of intellectual interest and for the general good.

“American and British involvement in Mossadegh’s ouster has long been public knowledge, but today’s posting includes what is believed to be the CIA’s first formal acknowledgement that the agency helped to plan and execute the coup,” the US National Security Archive said.

New documents obtained by Judicial Watch reveal that the Air Force has been distributing training material that equates talking of liberties or making the world a better place with being an “extremist”. The documents were released in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) seeking information on training materials related to hate groups or crimes.

Thinking of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today and his fight for justice as President Obama prepares to give his speech.

But will the President and Congress remember Dr. King's words when it comes to today's harmful racial profiling practices? Amnesty stands with our partners in the fight to end racial profiling. Take action here: http://amnestyusa.org/erpa

Legendary equality, justice, and peace activist who championed character over the color of one's skin is compared with warmongering corporate servant Obama ... because of the color of his skin.

The differences between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and current US President Barack Obama could not be greater. In fact, the only thing they have in common is that they are both black. Yet somehow, Western media outlets have managed to draw parallels between these diametrically opposed figures - presumably because they are indeed both black. AP recently published an article titled, "Obama Embodies King's Dream and His Struggle," stated:

"The scheduled appearance later Wednesday of Obama, the first African-American president, was certain to embody the fulfilled dreams of hundreds of thousands who rallied there in 1963..."
Why? Merely because President Obama is black? Or because President Obama embodies any of the ideals of justice, equality, and peace that Martin Luther King Jr. championed for during life, and ultimately died for?

There is no greater way to defile the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. than to compare him with US President Barack Obama - a servant of an engine for the greatest disparity, inequality, and injustice on Earth - driven by the very corporate-financier interests King stood up against, was opposed by throughout his entire life, and most likely was killed by. - http://bit.ly/1fk6kHl

miércoles, 28 de agosto de 2013

A 'targeted strike' on Syria by the US would be nothing but an act of war, former Congressman Dennis Kucinich said, adding that an airstrike on President Assad’s anti-radical Islamist forces would mean the US Air Force was supporting Al-Qaeda.

“We knew we had to ask – we needed to know. We went to the health services and the morgue, thinking that we would find him dead. It was a pretty much pointless pilgrimage because we didn't get any response regarding where he was. Everybody in authority would constantly say that my brother had not been detained,” Gloria Elgueta.

The Saudi Arabian food chain has been widely contaminated with GM ingredients, according to a new study. The findings include controversial StarLink maize banned for human consumption in the US over ten years ago.

Leaders of the group of the G20 major economies are set to debate sanctions against Syria in a 5-6 September meeting in St Petersburg, with Western nations led by the United States preparing for air strikes in retaliation to a recent chemical attack on civilians.

Compilation videos: abuse of authority in Colombia August 26, 2013

The video is not far from reality, though, this is worse in Colombia. Remember that during the previous government of Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010), with then Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos current president, there were more than 2000 (!) Innocent people killed by members of the army. On the other hand, ironically the police motto is "All with one heart" What heart?

The PepsiCo / Naked Juice class action settlement has just been announced! Remember, PepsiCo bankrolled the campaign to defeat Prop 37 and prevent GMOs from being labeled. Now they are forced to hand out $9 million in settlement fees. Anyone who bought Naked Juice can claim up to $45 from PepsiCo even without proof of purchase! Here's how to file a claim: http://www.naturalnews.com/041817_Naked_Juice_class_action_settlement_claim_form.html

Milton Friedman argues that racial #discrimination in #employment is essentially impossible within a market #economy. In his "#Capitalism and Freedom" Friedman expresses skepticism about whether the concept of “discrimination” even makes sense within a market economy. So taking steps through legislation to reduce the harmful effects of racial discrimination in hiring (and presumably in #housing) is an illegitimate use of the force of government, according to Friedman. In fact, he compares efforts to do so to the Hitler Nuremberg laws (p. 111). Friedman's analysis of racial discrimination is a striking example of the ways in which adherence to a theory can blind a person to the patent social realities around him or her. And once we see the realities of how racial discrimination and coercion worked in America, it is incumbent upon us as a society to put aside our stylized theories and attack the problem. #Inequality#neoliberalism

A provocative premise, but the author has an excellent point. Read the article here: http://bit.ly/17i5Hxg

"Imagine being an environmental activist in a world where police can
get away with killing young people for vandalizing a fast food joint;
where a government’s local law enforcers are collaborating with giant
energy corporations to stifle opposition; where a sheriff demands
funding for a program urging neighbors to snitch on anyone who says they
hate said government.

Sadly it doesn’t take much imagination,
does it? In case you weren’t inspired to click the embedded links above,
they reference recent stories of these things occurring in the US.

In light of this reality, it’s crystal clear that global ecology will
never be stabilized as long as the police have anything to do with it.

That’s right. Stopping the tar sands’ atmospheric climate bomb, keeping
GMOs out of our food, and defending wolves’ ability to restore
biodiversity depends on getting rid of the fuzz. Perhaps this is the
beginning of a new movement initiative that aims to reduce the CO2 parts
per million (ppm) by simultaneously slashing the cpms (cops per
million). Cops are not only the industrial empire’s first line of
defense against, well, us. They are also massive usurpers of the public
financial resources that might otherwise be put towards restoring the
Earth." - http://bit.ly/17i5Hxg